Iowa View: Don't forget the victims

Loss of loved one is life term that can't be commuted

9:47 PM,
Apr. 1, 2013

Wallace Parrish, defense attorney for Rasberry Williams when the latter was on trial for murder, speaks March 27 on behalf of Williams at the Black Hawk County Courthouse in Waterloo to urge members of the Iowa Board of Parole to commute Williams' prison sentence. Supporters of Williams, who is serving a life term for a 1974 murder, have called for a commutation so he can be released. The victim's relatives said they had forgiven him.

Written by

Karl Schilling

Commutations are in the news these days, and there is much being printed from the point of view of the offenders and their supporters. There is another viewpoint - the victim's. Because the Iowa Organization for Victim Assistance is an advocacy agency, we would like to provide a counterpoint to many of the arguments used to support commutations and other forms of clemency.

First, it should be clear what is at stake. A commutation is not a release. It is usually a change in a life-without-parole sentence to a sentence of years so as to, at some point, make the offender eligible for parole. But while ...